[[!meta date="2007-05-18"]]
[[!meta author="Tyler Cipriani"]]
[[!meta license="""
[[Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License|https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/]]
"""]]
[[!meta copyright="""
Copyright &copy; 2017 Tyler Cipriani
"""]]
[[!meta title="Fantastic Five: The 5 Best Search Engines Besides Google"]]

<p>    <img
src="http://i189.photobucket.com/albums/z273/thcipriani/fantastic.gif"
alt="fantastic five search engine beta" /></p><p>As everyone who has ever read
this blog knows, I'm a Google junkie. This, recently, has begun to disturb me.
I mean the connotation of the word junkie is rather negative when you think
about it; people who are always looking to get their fix etc. However, when I
thought about the true meaning of the word junkie, negative connotation and
all, I realized that's what I am, a <i>Google Junkie.</i> In light of my recent
epiphany I have decided to try to kick the habit, or at least ween myself off
of Google slowly, by doing some research into new (better perhaps?) search
engines. The following list is the cream-of-the-crop of search engines sans
Google.</p><ol><li>Perhaps my favorite Google alternative of the moment is <a
href="http://www.hakia.com/" target="_blank">hakia
(beta)</a>. Even though the engine is still in beta it does some things that
Google doesn't, like (a) compliment you on your choice of search, (b) seems to
recognize questions versus search operators, (c) it categorizes your searches
and then gives you a table of contents so you can find what you're looking for
easier. A search for <a
href="http://www.hakia.com/search.aspx?q=golf"
target="_blank">golf</a> shows produces an exceptional table of contents
featuring Headlines, Rules of the Sport, Hall of Fame Players, and nine other
categories for you to peruse. <br /></li><li>My next favorite search engine in
the game is probably <a
href="http://www.exalead.com/search"
target="_blank">exalead</a>. You can customize your homepage with some of your
favorite shortcuts (kind of the equivalent of Opera's speed dial). Not only is
that a neat feature but any search (like <a
href="http://www.exalead.com/search/results?q=golf&amp;x=494&amp;y=6"
target="_blank">golf</a> for example) results page has a preview of the website
right next to the url. Plus, in a right hand column, you can choose to narrow
your search to different file extensions, media types, languages, search terms,
site types, you name it, exalead's got it.</li><li>Number three on my list is
like almost like number one, except with less features, <a
href="http://clusty.com/" target="_blank">Clusty</a> - the
clustering search engine. This search engine basically takes all of your
results and breaks them into meaningful "clusters." This site, while not as
amazing as the two other search engines still warrants a mention on this
list.</li><li>Number four on this list is not an unknown in the wide world of
search, most people have probably heard of it and have their own opinion on it,
<a href="http://www.snap.com/" target="_blank">Snap</a>. I
think it has a lot of features that could be cool, if they were done right. For
instance the webpage preview window on their site was done much better with
exalead. Snap also has some features that are kind of annoying. For instance
the suggestion drop down at the search box, who needs that? The only thing I
use it for is if I can't spell what I'm searching for.</li><li>Finally a search
engine that is kind of cheating from my Google cold-turkey resolution, <a
href="http://www.sputtr.com/" target="_blank">Sputtr</a>.
Sputtr is a meta search that lets you search almost any (popular) search site
you can think of all from the comfort of their stylish web 2.0 interface. Check
it out, it's the bomb (people still do say bomb, right?).</li></ol>Anyway,
that's my list of search engines I use besides Google. Although there should be
an honorable mention for Dogpile.com just for the music search. If any of my
readers have a fav search engine that wasn't mentioned here, tell me about it
in my yell box.</p>

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